William Cosby served as the governor of New York from 1732 to 1736. Immediately upon arriving to his new position in the colonies, the new governor began to show his true colors. He was arrogant, angered easily and was extremely greedy. He often made unilateral decisions that affected the colonies without consulting the council. His first objective was to dispute his salary. He ordered the interim governor (Rip Van Dam) to turn over half of his earned salary. Dam, of course, refused to do so unless ordered by law.
Knowing that no court would favor his newly appointed position, Governor Cosby forced the courts to move forward with a proceeding to establish equitable distribution. This meant that the judge alone would make a decision in the case and not a jury of peers. These proceedings were extremely unpopular during the colonial period and the colonists looked at these proceedings as another form of tyranny imposed upon them from England.…show more content… The governor was outraged by the Chief Justice’s decision and soon realized that he would be unable to control his actions and the actions of many of the council members. So, he fired both the Chief Justice and Rip Van Dam from his re-appointed position within the local council.
At this same time, a publicist/ journalist by the name of John Peter Zenger began publishing a newspaper called the “Weekly Journal” in New York. Zenger, along with many others in New York felt that the new governor was corrupt and imposed many unjust policies on them. He began to write and publish articles about how he and his fellow colonists disagreed with the actions and policies of the newly appointed
